Hhhhhello, and welcome to TPWW.net for the Thursday edition of the news and rumors. There's so much to do, yet so little time today, so without further ado, here are today's (probably quick and half-assed-looking) news and rumors.
WWF Smackdown! comes to us tonight from Little Rock, Arkansas and from what I've heard, the show looks to be a blockbuster. It contains not only a few good matches, but several twists in the ongoing McMahon family saga. TPWW Smackdown! reporter Mike E. has told me that the show will be great tonight and highly recommends it. For those who are interested in checking out the results of the show now, you can read Mike's report HERE.
Here's what you can expect on tonight's show:
- Kurt Angle & William Regal vs. The Rock & Steve Austin
- Dean Malenko vs. Chris Jericho
- The Hardy Boyz vs. Chris Benoit & Perry Saturn
- Raven vs. The Undertaker - Hardcore match
- Val Venis vs. Billy Gunn
- Lita vs. Ivory - WWF Women's Title
- Kurt Angle, Foley, Regal
- Edge & Christian vs. The Dudley Boyz
THQ's latest WWF titles, WWF No Mercy for the Nintendo 64 and WWF Smackdown! 2 for the Sony Playstation are the top selling games in the United States, according to a report by Business Wire. No exact numbers as far as sales have been released, however.
Matt Hardy reportedly legitimately injured his shoulder during The Hardys match on Raw against Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn. Matt will wrestle on tonight's Smackdown, but obviously had limited action. Reports are that after Monday's match on Raw, Matt could not move his arm out of one position due to the injured shoulder.
Triple H will be a guest on NBC's "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" on Monday, December 18th, according to Al Isaacs. I'm not sure if it'll be a rerun or not.
The WWF has opened a website for their upcoming PPV, Royal Rumble, which comes to us on January 21, 2001. The site features history of past Royal Rumble PPVs and more. It can be visited at WWFRoyalRumble.com.
Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura has been cleared to announce XFL games this February. A complaint was filed against Ventura by an environmental activist who claimed that Ventura was using his role as Governor to gain jobs elsewhere (XFL). However, this complaint was not agreed to, since Ventura had already been an NFL commentator in the past and there was no proof at all to the claim.
A recent poll on ESPN.com asks "Which athlete would you most like to invite to your holiday party?" The interesting part of the poll is that one of the choices - and the leader of the poll - is The Rock. Big thanks to Surge from WrestleTron.net for sending along that info. The results of the poll are as follows:
- "The Rock"-28.6%
- Tiger Woods-18.5%
- David Wells-15.3%
- Shaquille O'Neal-10.7%
- Dennis Rodman-9.3%
- Mark Messier-6.2%
- Alex Rodriguez-5.5%
- Sebastian Janikowski-5.4%
The WWF website posted a very interesting article on the return to ECW for the former eight time ECW tag team champion Dudley Boyz. In an interview with the Dudleys, they state that ECW fans will see the return of the old "bad ass" ECW Dudley Boyz, including obvious microphone time for Buh Buh Ray, who claims what he will say will need an "NC-17 rating." D-Von apparently expects a huge reaction from the ECW crowd, as do I. "I can see a big explosion, like welcome back!" says D-Von. You can check out the entire article HERE.
WCW Nitro, which aired a day late on Tuesday this week, scored a 1.7 rating with hours of 1.5 and 1.9, according to Dave Scherer. Considering that the move to Tuesday had hardly any on-air promotion, I guess the 1.7 rating isn't too bad.
Remaining on the subject of ratings, WCW Thunder on Wednesday scored a mediocre 2.2 rating, off hours of 2.2. That's down from last week's 2.4 rating.
Mark Madden recently appeared "WrestleManiacs," a Chicago radio show. Martin Hawrysko of WrestlingRush.com (coming soon), sent along the following report from Madden's appearance, which includes several interesting notes: "Last night Mark Madden was interviewed on Chicago's Score 670 AM, WSCR. The show was WrestleManiacs and it's hosted by Johnathen Hood. Among some things discussed was Madden repeatedlty claimed that Steiner was the man (he was out of character) and that the company was going to build around him in the future. He mentioned that Scotty's character is somewhat similiar to himself when he's off camera, being 'crazy.' Madden said he keeps contact with Chris Jericho still and his good friends with Ric Flair. He said that Bobby Heenan and Jerry Lawler did enspire him and he felt that WCW should bring back Heenan and let him broadcast at least another NITRO or a PPV so he can end in a great way. He claimed that the outcome to Starcade's main event match between Steiner and Sid would be something and there are some twist and turns that will take place between the two. He thought the two major problems with wrestling these days was that there was too much humor, and there are two much women. He thought the fans wanted more drama and that the humerous stuff should not be the main focus. Women should also not be used as much as they are (referring to both promotions). He really praised Nash throughout the night and claimed that the fans still love him. He said that at the end of his contract with WCW, Nash will go where ever the money is greater. He also ended by saying he sometimes still feels uncomfortable as in fitting in when backstage in WCW, since he still feels he is not much of a 'wrestling guy.' That was the interview. WrestleManiacs airs every Tuesday night from 10 - Midnight on WSCR 670 AM in Chicago and throuhgout the Midwest."
That just about wraps it up for today's report. Either myself or Mike Christopher will be back tomorrow with more news and rumors. Until then, check out our newsboard for news updated around the clock. Until next time...
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com